26022019-btd-01.qxd 2/25/2019 11:10 PM Page 1 c m y b Bathinda TRIBUNE SPECIAL KIDS’ SCHOOL SANS WASHROOM, ATTENDANTS PAGE 2 Children visit Government Primary School situated near the centre to use toilets on a daily basis. FORECAST RAINY INBRIEF MAN ARRESTED WITH HEROIN Bathinda: The police on Monday arrested a resident of the Dhipali village at Power House road for possessing heroin. The accused has been identified as Jaspreet Singh. He has been booked under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act at the Civil Lines police station. Investigation Officer-cum-complainant Sukhveer Kaur said further investigation was on to ascertain the source of the contraband. TNS FUEL PRICES PETROL ~71.40 DIESEL ~65.75 WHAT’S ON BATHINDA KABBADI TOURNAMENT: The district administration will organise kabaddi competitions across different blocks in the district. The matches will start at 10 am Producer of Period. End of Sentence Guneet Monga dubs the Oscar win as ‘huge, epic and crazy’. MAX 20°C | MIN 7°C | YESTERDAY MAX 21°C | MIN 6°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6:27 PM ACTING NOT A PIECE OF CAKE, SAYS ACTRESS IRA SONE PAGE 4 Sone talks about the kind of shows she wants to do and what she would like to change in the industry. SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6:59 AM TUESDAY | 26 FEBRUARY 2019 | BATHINDA Anger over teachers’ transfer spills on roads Teacher unions, parents of students lodge protest, seek revocation of orders of Education Department Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 25 Following the transfer of a teacher from Government Primary School at Parasram Nagar here, parents of students studying in the school staged a dharna on Monday and demanded the revocation of the transfer order by the Education Department. Parents, in large numbers, gathered in front of the school in the morning and raised slogans against the Education Department for transferring the teacher. The dharna started around 10.15 am and continued till 12 pm. Notably, Rajbir Singh, president of the BEd Teachers’ Front, and two other teachers from Bathinda, had been transferred to Hoshiarpur by the Education Department, following the teachers’ boycott of the ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ project in the district. But the decision of transfer did not go down well with the teachers. Parents said despite his good performance, the government had transferred Rajbir from the school. The government must clarify the reason for his transfer, though he had been rendering his services with utmost sincerity and diligence. Parents said Rajbir was a very dedicated teacher and owing to his efforts, the annual results of the school had improved. Moreover, he always laid emphasis on engaging students in sports and extra-curricular activities. The Education Department could not arrange the students’ uniforms till now, despite the fact that the annual session was coming to an end. Rather, it was busy taking decisions which would not only affect the studies of the students but would also cause inconvenience to teachers. The parents also warned that Golden touch Members of the Adhyapak Sangharsh Committee, along with other teacher unions, protest the transfers of three teachers by the Education Department in Bathinda on Monday; and (right) parents of students stage a dharna in front of Government Elemantary School, Parasram Nagar. TRIBUNE PHOTOS: VIJAY KUMAR, PAWAN SHARMA if the transfer decision of Rajbir Singh was not cancelled, they would against sit on a dharna in the coming days. Meanwhile, members of the Adhyapak Sangharsh Committee, along with other teacher unions, staged a The setting sun lends a golden hue to the waters of the thermal lake in Bathinda on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: PAWAN SHARMA F&CC meet: Most items on 45-point agenda approved Sukhmeet Bhasin Tribune News Service The F&CC meeting in process at the MCB office in Bathinda on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: PAWAN SHARMA MCB officials have asked the society to give a break-up of the cost. Only after satisfying the members, this contract would be given for further approval, the members said. The tender for renovation of parks in Model Town Phase 1 has been given to Ganga Co-operative LC Society Limited at a cost of Rs 4.26 lakh, which is 20.99 per cent less than the estimated price of Rs 5.40 lakh. The contract of painting at various places in the city was allotted to Sita Ram contrac- protest over the teachers’ transfer at Ambedkar Park on Monday. Members of the unions raised slogans against the Education Department and demanded that the transfer orders be cancelled. MC carried out works of ~6.23 crore in 2018-19 Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 25 The Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) has approved most of the items on the 45-point development agenda tabled during the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting held on Monday, ahead of the enforcement of the code of conduct for Lok Sabha poll. The meeting was headed by Mayor Balwant Rai Nath, along with Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal, Deputy Mayor Gurinderpal Kaur Mangat, Municipal Commissioner Rishipal Singh and other officials. The work of barbed wire fencing at growth centre also came for approval but as The Hazi Rattan Co-Operative LC Society had quoted a price 25.86 per cent less than the estimated price of Rs 7.26 lakh, the MCB Commissioner and other members raised concern and claimed that the society may compromise on quality. So, the PAGE 3 IT’S A BIG VICTORY FOR ‘PERIOD’ AT OSCARS tor at a cost of Rs 2.92 lakh, against the estimated cost of Rs 3.57 lakh. The work of desilting of sewers and repair of manholes at the growth centre has been given to Jagdish Construction Company at Rs 19.72 lakh, against the estimated cost of Rs 22.17 lakh. The work of repair and renovation of Bhagu road and Civil Lines parks has been given to Kothe Maha Singh Wale Co-operative LC Society at a cost of Rs 3.69 lakh, against the estimated cost of Rs 3.93 lakh. Bathinda, February 25 The Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) carried out development works of around Rs 6.23 crore only, against the proposed allocation of Rs 21.20 crore in the financial year 2018-19, primarily due to politics taking a toll on the functioning of the Local Bodies Department. As per tghe MCB data, the corporation had carried out development works of Rs 4.60 crore. It is expected that it will carry out works of Rs 1.63 crore more till March 31, 2019. As per the proposed allocation for road of Rs 6.50 crore, the MCB spent only Rs 1.49 crore. Similarly, only Rs 8.62 lakh has been spent on parks against the proposed allocation of Rs 1 crore. Recently, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, while addressing the public rally at MCB to record General House, F&CC meets Bathinda, February 25 Officials of the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) on Monday took a decision to videograph the entire proceedings of the General House and F&CC meetings from now onwards. At the start of the F&CC meeting, Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal and Deputy Mayor Gurinderpal Kaur Manga pointed out that there was no point in raising any issue on any agenda in the meeting, as they are never included in the meeting proceedings. Taking this in view, MCB Commissioner Rishipal Singh said, “I think we should hire some person who could note the proceedings and even we should record the proceedings of the meeting, so that it could help in making proceedings and if anything is not taken on record then we should fix the responsibility of a person who had prepared the proceedings.” It was also stated that councillor should send their question to the mayor office before raising it in the question hour during the meeting. — TNS c m y b the grain market, had alleged that the MCB had Rs 35 crore in its kitty, but it did not spend anything on development works as it was ruled by SAD, whereas he had started Rs 300-crore development works in the city. Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said development works of only Rs 6.23 crore were carried out because he did not get proper VAT funds as Rs 13 crore was still pending with the state government. Speaking on the allegation of the Finance Minister, Nath said the MCB had Rs 1.47 crore as security, Rs 3.35 crore in Swachh Bharat fund, Rs 17.27 crore in escrow account as security, Rs 3.5 crore cow cess, Rs 2.5 crore from colony regularisation , Rs 2.5 crore in municipal funds, Rs 4.5 crore as financial commission fund and Rs 5 crore for solid waste, water supply and sewerage in the city. Later, the protesters reached the district administrative complex and gheraoed the district Education Department’s office. Hardeep Singh, DEO (Elementary), reached the protest venue to pacify the protesters and assured them that he would write to the higher authorities regarding the cancellation of transfer order of the teachers, following which the teachers ended the protest. Notably, members of the Adhyapak Sanghrash Com- mittee boycotted the evaluation of the ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ project and teachers from different schools in the district allegedly did not allow the department officials to conduct the evaluation process on Saturday. Teachers stage dharna in front of MLA’s house ‘PADHO PUNJAB, PADHAO PUNJAB’ Tribune News Service Faridkot, February 25 A large number of government school teachers organised a protest march and staged a dharna in front of Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon’s house on Monday to oppose the ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ scheme. With the aim to bring qualitative improvement in education as well as changing the public perception about government schools, ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ scheme was introduced in the academic session 2017-2018 and it is still continuing. A few days ago, the School Education Department announced to conduct a test of primary students under the scheme. However, after the clash between the teachers and School Education Department over the latter’s demands and their prolonged agitation at Patiala, the teachers gave a call to boycott the scheme and the testing. However, Krishan Kumar, Secretary, School Education Department, announced the conduct of the test on February 21. Seeking the help of Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, the Secretary wrote to Tanu Kashyap, Director, Panchayat, stating that the testing of the students was very essential under the scheme. The secretary further wrote that ‘some elements’ were threatening the teachers through social media and stopping them from testing the students. “I have already taken a meeting with all District Education officers (DEOs) and Block Primary Education officers (BPEOs) at Chandigarh and asked them to take all necessary precautions,” the secretary wrote. He asked the director to request the DDPOs to further ask the village sarpanches to be present in the school during the test and assist the staff on duty. The BPEOs had also been asked to be in touch with the BDPs for this assistance. Due to this tug-of-war between the protesting teacher unions and the Education Department, there were some clashes at various places when the DEOs and BPEOs sought police help in taking the test, further infuriating the teacher unions last week. In furtherance of the agitation, the teaching fraternity on Monday organised protest rallies and warned the Education Department of not using police force to bully them.

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